Good evening, everybody, and welcome to City Council of Jonesboro, Arkansas.

This is October 9th already at 2025.

We'll go ahead and get our evening's meeting started because I know there's some events going on in our community this evening.

I'm sure many of you would like to attend.

So we'll go ahead and start.

I'll start with the Pledge of Allegiance, and Councilman Porter will lead us an invocation.

I pledge allegiance to the United States of America.

One nation under God with liberty and just as far.

Please pray with me.

Our Father in Heaven, we thank you for your kindness to us.

Every good and perfect gift comes from you.

We thank you for our public servants who risk their own safety to protect us.

We ask for wisdom and understanding as we attend to the people's business.

Help us to act justly, to love mercy and walk umbly with you.

These things we pray in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman.

Next, we'll move on to roll call.

If you would please go ahead and uh mark your ballot.

Okay, we do have 10 members present this evening.

So council will move on to item number four.

And this evening we don't have any special presentations.

Uh but I will note at the next meeting I will be bringing forward our judiciation and justification for our audit that was a clean audit, and we have to do so accordingly to state law, and that'll be coming forth.

All of you should have be receiving a copy of that shortly.

So if you would please go over that if you have any questions, and we can address it at uh the next meeting, or you can obviously call our office to answer any questions you may have.

So then we'll move on to item number five, and this is items on consent agenda.

Move to adopt unless there's one to be removed.

Second, do have a motion on the floor.

Any items to be removed.

I don't see any.

If you would please go ahead and cast your ballot.

And the consent agenda does carry.

So council now will move on to items on new business.

This is item number six, and these are ordinances on the first reading.

We do have an ordinance 25034.

Move with suspend the rules and offered by title only.

Second.

Do you have a motion on the floor?

All in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Do we have any discussion by council?

I don't see any.

Anyone in council chambers?

I don't see any as well, so that item will move on to the second reading.

Now we'll move on to item number seven, items on unfinished business.

This is ordinance on the third reading.

Uh, and this is an ordinance that City Council will vote on since it is the third reading.

Ordinance 25030.

Ordinance modifying ordinance 24037, which established and consolidated special traffic patterns near Jonesboro Public Schools campuses and for other purposes.

Move to adopt second.

We do have a motion on the floor.

Council, is there any discussion from council or questions?

I don't see any.

Anyone in council chambers.

I don't see any as well.

If you would please go ahead and cast your ballot.

And that ordinance does carry.

So now council will move on to ordinance 25031.

An ordinance to the city of Jonesboro to place various traffic signs at designated locations as determined by the traffic control committee.

Move to adopt.

Second.

We have a motion and a second on the floor to adopt any discussion by council.

I don't see anyone in council chambers.

I don't see any as well.

If you would please cast your ballot, council.

And that ordinance does carry.

So next, council move on to item number eight, and these are mayor's reports.

Uh tonight I want to start the mayor's report with some really exciting news we received yesterday from our DOT.

The department announced the recipients of the 2025 Transportation Alternatives Program, better known as TAP.

And I'm proud to say Jonesboro was awarded 490,000 and for this TAP grant for the Higginsbotham Creek Trail.

For those of you who may not be familiar, TAP grant support projects and improve transportation options for pedestrians, bicyclists, and other non-motorized travel.

It is a reimbursement style grant that covers 80% of the cost with federal funds, while we provide a 20% local match.

This is a big win for our community and our commitment for walkability, recreation, and quality of life.

And as you know, we're meeting tonight instead of our normal Tuesday night meeting because Tuesday night we celebrated National Night Out.

Jonesboro's events is graciously hosted by council member uh Dr.

Charles Coleman.

I don't want to take his thunder for this evening, but uh he served plenty of good food.

He and his uh all of his many uh colleagues, they provided giveaways, created a sense of community and belonging.

National Night Out, as the name implies, encouraged it's across the country as a community-building campaign aiming to promote police, community partnerships, and neighborhood camaraderie, with the results being increased safety through awareness and neighborhood spirit.

Thank you, Dr.

Coleman, for all your volunteers who make this event very special each year for Jonesboro.

I also want to take a moment to recognize our incredible city staff and outstanding citizens for all the amazing events that take place in Jonesboro this time of year.

So let's let's go back to next last weekend, last Friday, for example, on September 26th.

On that day alone, we had more than 600, I think it was around 615 volunteers from across our community.

They rolled up their sleeves for a wide range of projects, from painting picnic tables to restoring ducks and goose decoys that were donated to the Arkansas Game and Fish, and more than 600 of them.

That's the ducks and goose decoys, okay.

And yes, that was a city team out there, including our very own city council person, Janice Porter.

That was just one day.

Now that was led by the United Way, and I think many of you are well aware that's an annual project.

Um, and we had our own city team that participated, but again, that's what our community is about.

As well as the next day, we had a lot of events, and um there's not two of me, so we had to divide up in many things.

But the barbecue fest obviously was going on.

The Arkansas District Fair, we had America League games, we had flag football tournaments on our new turf football field, on our new turf fields, we had soccer games, we had music at the Band Shell at Craighead Forest, we had a 10K, we had a 5K starting downtown at Rotary Park, Allen Park Family Fun Day, an ATA event at the shooting sports complex, the Jack Deacon Memorial Swim event at the YMCA, which uh our council member uh Chris Gibson uh was there all day for that event, and the seventh annual freedom uh gal of the NAACP.

That was just in one day, and honestly, that's a typical weekend here in Jonesboro.

So now, if case you haven't figured out, like I said, it's it's hard to be two places at once, but I want you to know that we do our very best to attend as many events as possible.

I also want to invite you, our community, to join us.

Be present, get involved, because while we're busy building infrastructure, expanding services, and keeping our city safe and growing, we all know that we need to do something deeper.

At the end of the day, community is about more than just buildings and roads.

Community is people, it's relationships, it's working side by side, it's building hope.

That is what Jonesboro is truly about.

That's what we strive for every day.

And with that in mind, I feel it's only right to pause and honor a legacy of someone who embodied that spirit, Mr.

Bill Hurt Jr.

Bill was a dear friend of mine, he was a colleague.

I've known him for over 40 years.

Bill was a loved member of this community who passed away peacefully at the age of 86, leaving behind a legacy of innovation, service, and unwavering love for his family and friends.

His obituary describes his life as a testament to hard work, determination, a keen eye for opportunity, and I couldn't agree with that more.

Over the years, Bill founded numerous business ventures that helped shape the economic landscape of Northeast Arkansas.

Many of them are still operating today, including 501 Steakhouse and Omar's Uptown, which includes which continue to influence a restaurant scene in Jonesboro.

He was also a founding member of the Jonesboro Advertising and Promotion Commission and served as a part of the Arkansas delegation in 1992 in the Democratic National Convention.

Bill's passing leads a void for many, but his legacy will live on through the businesses he built, the people he supported, and the family he cherished.

His remarkable life will be honored on Wednesday the 15th.

The visitation is at 9 a.m.

in services at 1030 M at uh Emerson Memorial Chapel.

Let us remember him not only for what he built, for how he lifted others along the way.

That folks is the spirit of Jonesboro, and that is the community we continue to build together.

That's the end of my mayor's reports.

Next one move on to item number nine, the city council reports.

Ms.

Porter.

I'd like to offer a shout out to the approximately 1,600 Arkansas Baptists who serve the people of Jonesboro last Saturday.

I served with a team which built a wheelchair ramp and performed maintenance and repairs at the home of a disabled couple.

A uh sincere thank you to the many volunteers who spent their Saturday completing various projects around Jonesboro.

Great event.

Thank you, Ms.

Porter.

Thank you.

Mr.

Emerson.

Yes, I just have a update this evening from the Bond Task Force meeting that we had last Tuesday.

Uh coming up on October 21st, we'll be reconvening that task force, and we'll be going over any additional information and possibly taking a vote to um make a recommendation to full counsel um on either of the two sites that have been vetted.

Um additional information that has come in since last Tuesday is that last week I was contacted by a local developer that has expressed interest in putting together a bid for the Washington property.

So we have not received that at this time.

However, I do expect to receive that before the meeting on the 21st.

So in anticipation of receiving that um that that offer on the Washington property, I've asked the administration to go ahead and order an appraisal on the Washington property so we can vet all information, do our own due diligence and have that information before everybody for the task force so we can make an informed decision at the time to recommend to council.

And that's all that I have today.

Thank you for your update, Councilman.

Great, thank you.

Thank you.

Um I just want to thank everybody that came out uh to the uh nationality event.

Uh the fish was good.

Uh Brian Fowling got a plate after four years I denied him a plate, so he finally got a plate tonight.

Thank the mayor and his administration for coming out and everybody else that showed up, Ms.

Porter, uh her group, and young lady Ruby sitting out there, and and also Roger, they they both worked for Fisher Community Action, and also the there they had they served 380 hot dogs and 400 plates of fish.

I think it was four and ten plates.

I'm always wrong about the 400, but anyway.

But it was good food.

Thank you, Councilman.

Mr.

Moore.

No, ma'am.

Miss Williams.

Mr.

McLean.

Dr.

Anthony Coleman.

I would like to uh bring out I try to do it every year, and I may forget, but uh October is also breast cancer wellness awareness month, and um always want to give a blessing and shout out to my wife who is a 20-year breast cancer survivor and want to honor all the women uh who have been going through or had been, or even those uh we've lost in transition because of that, but uh we just want to honor uh them and that um this this month uh for breast cancer.

I also want to thank everyone for your prayers and thoughts.

I had many calls, uh many texts and emails uh from the accident that I had a couple weeks ago, and it was pretty pretty tough, and I'm still battling through it, but I want to say thank to all of you, the community uh really rallied um around me, and I would just want to say thank you.

It wasn't in Jonesboro, uh, it was in Marion.

Uh but I do want to thank these first responders, of course, in Marion, but I just while I was going through it, I thought about uh first responders and what they have to deal with and then how they treat us uh was amazing, although they cut my shirt and they tried the pants.

I said, Oh no, no, no, not the pants.

Uh but uh but I do appreciate uh them and the the hard work and first responders at what they do for our city and uh just having to deal with that firsthand is uh it's uh it's a different perspective and it's life changing.

I just want to thank you, the community, for thinking of us and asking about us.

Thank and keep praying.

I'm still trying to recover.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman.

Appreciate you, and glad you're on the road to recovery.

Mr.

Bryant, no thanks, Mr.

Miller, thank you, Mr.

Street.

No, thank you.

All right, council.

Next we'll move on to item 10.

These are public comments, and uh you and the audience can come forward and make a statement.

You do have five minutes to do so.

Do we have anyone?

I don't see anyone.

Next one move on to item eleven.

Jordan.

Second.

We do have a motion and a second.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Be opposed.

Have a good week.